


Unrequited

by Catstaff



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Harmony & Co's Lyric Llama
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-20
Updated: 2020-04-20
Packaged: 2021-03-02 00:55:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,112
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23746438
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Catstaff/pseuds/Catstaff
Summary: Harry's refused to be best man at her wedding to Ron. Hermione's angry and wants to know why - and has no idea what to do with the answer she gets. Angsty, no HEA at this time.
Relationships: Hermione Granger/Harry Potter, Hermione Granger/Ron Weasley
Comments: 17
Kudos: 88
Collections: Lyric Llama





	Unrequited

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Harmony & Co.'s Lyric Llama, based on “Can’t you see that I’m the one who understands you? Been here all along. So, why can’t you see, you belong with me.” -You Belong With Me by Taylor Swift.

Hermione Granger stomped through the Ministry of Magic, making a beeline towards the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, a scowl on her face. Even seasoned aurors and hit wizards made room for the obviously furious witch, silently thanking Merlin they weren’t the target of her ire. A few debated the merits of sticking around to find out what had the young woman in such a strop, but remembered how well she’d fought against the Death Eaters and their allies and decided that discretion was the better part of valour. Most of them assumed she was upset with her fiancé, junior auror Ron Weasley, and either intended taking him to task for his transgression or else she intended enlisting the help of the couple’s best friend Harry Potter to intervene with Ron.

The would-be gossips would have been disappointed had they known they were wrong. Harry was the target of her temper on this particular afternoon. 

“Harry James Potter!” she barked as she entered his cubicle. “I can’t believe what you just did! You’ve upset all our plans – and Ron’s blaming Ginny that you won’t be his best man because she’s my maid of honor! Honestly, you two broke up years ago, at Dumbledore’s funeral, and you’re the one who didn’t want to get back together with her after the war ended. So don’t you think you should have moved on by now?”

“I don’t think they heard you in Hogsmeade,” Harry said dryly, before casting muffliato. “First of all, I am sorry to have upset your plans, but only a little sorry since you apparently planned on my participation assuming I would want to participate but without actually asking me until just today. I don’t want to overshadow you and Ron on what should be your special day, and you know damn well the press will focus on me and not on you two. My relationship – or lack thereof – with Ginny is completely irrelevant.” His words rang true, but he couldn’t quite meet Hermione’s eyes.

Unfortunately, she noticed, and her own eyes narrowed. “All right, what’s the real problem, then? I can buy that you’d like to avoid a media circus, but honestly, you’ve been best friends with Ron since you were eleven! Who else would he ask to stand up with him at his wedding? Surely you can’t be worried about finding a plus-one to bring if you don’t want to go stag. You know Luna would go with you as friends if you feel the need to ward off the fangirls and gold-diggers.”

Harry stood up quickly enough to send his chair into the wall of his cubicle, his green eyes gone hard as he slapped both hands down on his desk. “You really want to know, Hermione? Do you really want to know? Because you can’t give the knowledge back afterwards,” he practically hissed.

“Tell me,” she insisted. If there was some sort of falling out between Harry and Ron, she figured she needed to know about it, if only to avoid being caught in the middle. Although she had to admit to herself that she hadn’t spent enough time with Harry lately to have even noticed that he and Ron were no longer as close as they had been. Or if she’d noticed, she simply put it down to the fact that she and Ron had been spending more time together without Harry ever since Ron proposed and she accepted.

“Fine, just remember, you asked,” Harry said curtly. “I won’t be Ron’s best man because I can’t and won’t stand there and watch while he marries the woman I love.”

Hermione shook her head, certain she’d heard incorrectly. Her jaw worked a few times before she managed an oh-so eloquent, “…what?”

“You heard me. I think I’ve loved you since second year, although I didn’t recognise my feelings until the end of fifth year. Seeing you injured like you were at the Department of Mysteries hurt far worse than losing Sirius,” Harry said evenly. “I wouldn’t have ever dated Ginny if she hadn’t literally jumped into my arms and kissed me in front of most of Gryffindor Tower that time, not to mention the fact that you were obviously starting something with Ron since he and Lavender broke up. I’d hoped, with all the times I gave you a shoulder to cry on that year, that you might see how I felt and give me a chance, but you just kept pining for him, no matter how often he put you down for wanting to study and get good grades and have a future other than being a housewife. When he disappeared for those few months, back when we were hunting those artifacts, I hoped then you might realise that Ron is concerned first and foremost for Ron, and that I was – and am – concerned first and foremost with you. But he came crawling back and you kissed him. Do you know why I let Voldemort hit me with the killing curse? So that you could live! My scar was the last artifact – if he killed me, anyone could kill him. But no, the joke was on Harry Potter once again! Because of the scar, I came back and I killed him and now there are even more fangirls and gold-diggers after me than before. But the one woman I trust to see Harry and not The Savior, The Boy-Who-Lived, whatever the Prophet is calling me this week – for whatever reason, she’s also the only woman who apparently never even considered me as a possibility. I only wish I knew why.” Harry took a deep breath as the papers on his desk started to rustle in a breeze that shouldn’t have existed inside the Ministry building. “But I suppose it doesn’t matter anymore. You’ve made your choice and I have to live with it. For what it’s worth, I do hope you’ll be happy” He stepped around the desk in a quick movement and slipped out the door of his cubicle before she could react.

Hermione stood there in a daze for a long moment and then ran after him. “Harry,” she called out as she followed him to the apparition point. “Harry, wait! Harry!” She was too late. He vanished with an almost inaudible pop just before she reached him. Her shoulders slumped, she apparated away from the Ministry as well. But instead of returning to the Burrow, she went to her parents’ house. She needed her mother’s advice and support before she went to the Weasley’s house and what she knew would be a very painful talk with Ron. But then… then she would find Harry.


End file.
